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Jay Leno: Late-Night Television Is Nothing But A “Depressing” Trump Bash-Fest

If you’re sick of watching people like Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert devolve into a nightly routine of anti-Trump jokes and insults then you’re in the same boat as former late-night legend Jay Leno.

The former “Tonight Show” host had good things to say about the show hosts, and that they were indeed funny, but the negativity that has pervaded the late night show slots has been “depressing” to watch.

Late-night has always been pretty topical. The only trouble is now everyone has the same topic. (Laughs.) It’s all depressing Trump stuff. And they all do a great job. Seth Meyers is a great writer; Jimmy Kimmel does a good job; Jimmy Fallon does a great job. I like Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah [on Comedy Central] and Samantha Bee [on TBS]. The trouble is that there’s such negativity now. When I did the show, Bush was dumb and Clinton was horny and it was human problems. Now it’s all anti-women, anti-LGBT, anti-Muslim, anti-Mexican, anti-Salvadoran; it’s such a negative thing. God bless all the late-night hosts, they make it funny, but ultimately, it’s depressing. – READ MORE

On Tuesday, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel returned from his several-weeks-long hiatus from being the conscience of America — a hiatus conveniently taken during Hollywood’s latest round of sex abuse scandals — to lecture Americans about the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). He brought along with him his son, Billy, who became a cause celebre after Kimmel used Billy’s open heart surgery to stump against a Republican plan to curtail Obamacare. “I was out last week because this guy had heart surgery,” Kimmel told the audience, beginning to cry. “But look, he’s fine, everybody. He may have pooped, but he’s fine.” He then added, “Daddy cries on TV, but Billy doesn’t — it’s unbelievable.”

Then Kimmel got to the root of his rationale for bringing little Billy on the air as a national political prop: “[CHIP] covers around nine million American kids, whose parents make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but don’t have access to affordable coverage through their jobs. … Now CHIP has become a bargaining chip. It’s on the back burner while they work out the new tax plans.” He explained, “Parents of children with cancer, and diabetes, and heart problems are about to get letters saying their coverage can get cut off next month. Merry Christmas, right? This year they let the money for it expire while they work on getting tax cuts for their millionaire and billionaire donors.” He added, “I’ve had enough of this. I don’t know what could be more disgusting than putting a tax cut that mostly goes to rich people ahead of the lives of children.” He urged his viewers to “jam the House and Senate phones tonight, tomorrow.”